Chapter 3

Jayce wasn’t surprised his cock was hard and straining his zipper. That happened whenever she smiled at him. But this feeling—this instinct to mate—was almost overwhelming.

He didn’t want to scare her, and if he wasn’t careful, he might. A stray lock of strawberry-blonde hair was blowing across her eyes. He reached out and tucked it behind her ear. Instead of leaning away and fixing her hair herself, she actually leaned into him.

Was he getting the go-ahead signal? Since when had he ever had trouble figuring out what a woman wanted? Some girls gave mixed signals, but he didn’t think she was doing that. For whatever reason, he sensed she was as ready to go to the next level as he was.

There was only one way to tell. He held her gaze and let her know how he felt. “I don’t want this night to end.”

“Neither do I,” she said breathlessly.

Leaning close to her ear, he whispered, “It doesn’t have to.”

She turned her face toward the city and chewed her lip, as if trying to make up her mind. He waited as patiently as he could.

At last she said, “I live with my mother.”

“And I have the tiniest hotel room ever built,” he said, trying to lighten the mood and take the pressure off. She chuckled as he’d hoped she would, but he wanted to make sure she didn’t think he was trying to discourage her. “But…I think I can squeeze you in, if you want to spend the night together.”

“I—” She took a deep breath and let it out with a whoosh. Her gaze dropped to her toes. “I really shouldn’t.”

He made an effort to keep his disappointment from showing. “I understand. You barely know me. There’s the distance—”

“No. It’s none of that.”

When she didn’t elaborate, he told himself to back off. To not pressure her. If she wasn’t ready, she wasn’t ready. But he could have sworn…

“I should tell you that I made a vow.”

Shock rippled through him. “You’re a firefighter and a nun?”

She belted out a laugh. “God, no! I just meant that I vowed not to sleep with firefighters.”

“Oh.” He chuckled at himself. “I see. And why is that?”

“For one thing, living and working together is stressful enough. Add in spending our spare time together, and there’s no separation at all. If we ever had a fight, it could not only affect our cooperation with each other, but could make our coworkers uncomfortable. Considering what we do, staying on good terms with everyone is highly recommended.”

“All good points. But I don’t hear anything that applies to the two of us. We’d never end up in the same firehouse or even on the same job in a city-wide disaster.”

“I know, and that’s the only reason I’m considering…” She gazed out at the city again.

Waiting for her to make a decision was killing him. He was just about to say “Never mind, there’s no hurry,” when she grabbed his face and took a deep breath.

“Okay, yes. But I might only go part of the way, and I can’t stay all night.”

“Good enough.” Without another word, they grasped each other’s hands and headed for the elevator.

Jayce wanted her badly, but he was also having some niggling second thoughts. He pretty much stayed out of relationships, but he wasn’t a love-’em-and-leave-’em kind of guy either. He glanced over at her a couple of times, and she looked up at him shyly. Maybe “part of the way,” as she put it, was a wise decision.

He was tempted to offer to wait, but his body wanted to slap him just for thinking it. Why this girl made him want her so much he couldn’t fathom. There were women who could rival her in the looks department, but that wasn’t the deciding factor. He’d dated models and a couple of beauty queens, so if looks were all he needed, he could have proposed to any of them.

No, there was also the absolute need to find an open-minded woman he could trust, who would trust him completely in return.

By the time they reached his hotel room, he was good and confused. And yet she seemed to have convinced herself to go full speed ahead. She was yanking his shirt out of his jeans and pushing his jacket off his shoulder at the same time. Her anxiety made him chuckle, but he wondered if she was trying to get it done before she could talk herself out of it.

“Relax, Kris. There’s no need to rush.”

“Oh. I thought you wanted this.”

“I do. Don’t get me wrong. I do…very much. But I don’t want you to feel pressured or hurried.”

“Am I hurrying too much?” Her expression said she was taking this the wrong way.

He grabbed her elbow and led her to the bed two steps away. “No. But sit down.”

She remained standing and crossed her arms. “If you’re going to say you’ve changed your mind, do it now. I don’t need to hear any fancy explanations. If you’re just not into me, you’re not into me.”

“Huh? I am into you.” He smiled and then winked. “Or I will be, if you’ll give me a chance.”

“Oh…oh! You, um, need a few minutes?”

“What? No.” He laughed. “I’m good to go. I’m just making sure that this is what you want.”

“For fuck’s sake…” she said under her breath.

Obviously she didn’t know what to think of his gallantry. Maybe she’d never experienced a man being considerate before. He didn’t want her to get the wrong idea and think he was backing out. Far from it. At last, he tackled her and pulled her down on top of him.

She came up laughing. “Women aren’t the only ones who give mixed signals.”

“I guess not. I’m sorry.” He rolled her onto her back and loomed over her. “I’m very into you. Maybe so much that I got a little scared.”

Her brows shot up. “I’ve never heard that one before.”

“Because it’s not a line.” Before she could comment on his embarrassing burst of honesty, he dipped his head and devoured her mouth. She returned his passion, and they rolled across the bed. As the heat built, he needed to get his clothes off. He should never have stopped her as they were entering the room.

He reached behind her back and lowered the dress’s zipper. Slipping it off one shoulder revealed a pretty lavender lace bra. Maybe she had been joking about the granny panties.

Getting the rest of the dress off her was a bit of a trick. She seemed fine letting him remove the dress from the other shoulder and pop her bra open, but that’s where her cooperation ended. She didn’t lift her bottom, so he couldn’t pull the dress down and off. He couldn’t yank it up over her head either. He tried to slip his hand inside, and she batted it away.

Fine. He’d lavish attention on her breasts until she was ready to move forward. As he suckled, she moaned and arched into him. There was no question in his mind that she was enjoying this.

Finally, it occurred to him what the problem might be. He rose up on his elbows and stared down at her. “Kristine, are you wearing granny panties?”

“Um…” A blush stained her chest and worked its way up to her cheeks. “Yes.”

Jayce leaned back and laughed. “Oh, honey. You don’t have to worry about that. I was just giving you a hard time that day in Boston. It was just part of the fun.”

“Really? You don’t mind?”

“It’s certainly not a deal breaker. I like you too much.”

“Well, that’s a relief, because I like you too.”

“I propose that we give this long-distance thing a try. After all, it might work out, but we’ll never know unless we give it a shot.”

“I accept your proposal.” She immediately broke eye contact and blushed.

* * *

Later Kristine practically floated into her apartment after her date.

On the lookout for her mother, she crept to the bathroom. She didn’t want to go into details, and her mother would have grilled her. She just wanted to bask in the glow of adoration for a little while. It had been a long, long time since any man had treated her this well. She knew the high wouldn’t last, but by God, she was going to enjoy it while it did.

Her mother must have gone to bed early. She never went to bed before eleven, and she usually read for a while. It was after midnight when Kristine tucked herself in and turned out the light without waking her. At that point, she’d considered her night a complete triumph.

Would he really call her today like he said he would? Or was it a one-night stand? She’d given him her landline number just in case her mobile phone’s battery died.

Crap. Now she’d obsess about it all day. Oh well, at least she had a dentist appointment to take her mind off him. She mentally rolled her eyes at herself. Yeah, right. Like anything would get her to stop thinking about Jayce Fierro.

On her way to the dentist, her phone rang. It was only 9:30 in the morning. It couldn’t be him. It must be her mother, wanting to interrogate her over the phone since she didn’t get a chance to do it in person.

Well, she couldn’t avoid her mom forever. She dug her cell phone out of her jacket pocket. Her phone had its own case with the absolute necessities in it: credit card, cabbie cash, and a spot to tuck business cards if she was ever offered one. It took her a minute to answer, and she was almost to the subway. That gave her the perfect excuse to cut the call short.

“Hey, Mom—”

“Mom?” asked a sexy male voice on the other side of the line. “I’ve been called a lot of things, but never ‘Mom.’”

Oh my God! It’s Jayce. She giggled as she realized her mistake. “I—uh…I thought…”

He laughed as a combination of relief and mortification washed over her.

“I’m pretty sure I know what you thought. Don’t worry about it. Your cell phone probably didn’t recognize my number. I’ll have to program it in when I see you again.”

He wants to see me again. Yay!

“I know you have a dentist appointment, but I was wondering if you were free for lunch. We can get sticky buns and destroy all your hygienist’s hard work.”

She loved his sense of humor. Just the right amount of irreverence. “I’m going to tell her you said that.”

“And get me in trouble with the ADA? You wouldn’t.”

“Yeah, you’re right. You’re probably already walking a fine line with them for not flossing.”

“So where and when do you want to meet?”

She wanted to say “Right here, right now,” but that would sound desperate. “How about if I call you when I’m done?”

“That works.”

“Same number you just called me with?”

“Yup. Or I could just go with you…”

“Huh?” Now who’s sounding desperate?

“Turn around.”

Kristine halted and whirled around. Another pedestrian on his cell phone almost walked right into her. He mumbled some profanity, then swerved around her. About twenty feet behind him a familiar tall, dark, and smirking guy sauntered up to her.

“Were you following me?”

“Nope. I was heading toward the TV studio and recognized you as you were crossing the street two blocks back.”

She didn’t know how to feel about this “coincidence.” If he had been following her around, that would be a little creepy.

He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “I figured I’d see if I could get two tickets.”

They resumed walking at the city clip they both seemed used to. The explanation sounded reasonable. But… “Why didn’t you just call and ask them?”

“I did. They said first come, first served. I was going to call you when I got there and ask if you were interested. Then I saw you and thought I’d have a bit of fun.”

“You’re all about having fun, aren’t you?” She didn’t mean to sound so judgmental.

He shrugged. “Firefighters work hard, so we should play hard too. The more fun we can have during our time off, the better.”

“Like what we did last night? That kind of fun?”

“Ha! I wasn’t talking about that. Like I said, I’m picky.”

She was relieved to hear he wasn’t bed-hopping. “So, what else do you do for fun?”

“I own a fishing boat. My brothers and some of the guys I work with enjoy fishing. We don’t go after the big fish. We’re not equipped to land swordfish or tuna or anything like that…mostly mackerel, but there’s nothing like being on the water on a nice summer day.”

The subway entrance loomed ahead. “I’m getting on the subway here,” Kristine said.

He slipped his arm around her waist and swooped in for another kiss…this one a toe-curling, tongue-seeking, hot lip-lock.

“Whew.” She stepped back and shook her head to clear the daze. “I’ll tell my hygienist to hurry.”

* * *

Jayce was glad he went early to pick up the tickets. They were almost out. Kristine had called to say she wanted to stop at home before going for sticky buns—or possibly a salad.

His phone rang, and he was happy to hear the ringtone he had already programmed in for Kristine: “Too Hot.”

“Hey, hot stuff. You ready?”

“Um… Actually I have to cancel. I’m really sorry.”

What? “Cancel? Did I freak you out this morning? Running into you really was a coincidence.”

“Oh, yeah. I know that.”

But maybe she didn’t believe it. Rather than jumping to conclusions, he asked, “Then why?”

“I—it’s my mother.”

“Is she sick?”

“I can’t talk right now.”

“Okay. I can tell something has you upset. I’m here for you if you need me.”

“Maybe it would be better if you just spend the rest of your vacation doing the tourist thing. Then just go home and forget about me. We knew a long-distance relationship wouldn’t work anyway—”

“Whoa. You’re not making sense. We agreed to try it. Something is very wrong. Tell me what’s going on.”

“I can’t.” Her voice wobbled. Then the call disconnected.

“Shit!” He cursed out loud and then glanced at the pedestrians within earshot. No one even blinked.

How could he pretend he hadn’t heard the desperation in her voice? He’d go to her apartment and demand to know what had her so spooked—but he didn’t know where she lived. He didn’t want to ask her firefighter buddies in case she already thought he was a stalker. He tried the Internet, hoping some information might lead him in the right direction. There was nothing. What the hell could he do?

A little rule-breaking might be in order.

He jogged to a nearby parking garage and made sure he wasn’t being observed and there were no cameras to record his actions. Then he stripped, stashed his clothes behind a large cardboard box, and shifted into his phoenix form. His tail feathers were too colorful to be ignored, even in New York, so he found a pile of dirt and rolled in it. Fortunately, if he needed to refresh his camouflage, there was no shortage of it.

Now that he was less ostentatious, he flew to the Hell’s Kitchen firehouse. Kristine lived somewhere in the area. He could scope out the neighborhood from above, hoping to spot his beautiful redheaded firefighter coming out of an apartment building. If nothing else, she was due back to work in a couple of days.

A couple of days. If he had been able to groan in phoenix form, he would have. He’d age like a regular bird. Three days in a bird’s life was approximately one year in a human’s. However, with a lot of flying, the aging process ramped up even more. At the moment, he was willing to age two or more years if it took all week to find her. Something was drastically wrong, and he had to know what was frightening her.

He flapped his powerful wings, gliding on the wind. He only hoped that when he finally found her, he wasn’t too late.

* * *

Kristine lowered herself onto the couch with a thud. How long had that note been on the floor? She tried to remember the last time she saw her mother. Had she knocked the paper off the sofa table when she tossed her clutch there?

“I was getting ready for my date last night, and she seemed fine then,” Kristine mumbled. “I was gone for about five hours…”

Remembering how she’d thought she was lucky to have dodged her mother’s questions around midnight, she wondered if her mother had even been in the apartment. Right now she’d give anything to see her mother—even if she wanted to know every last detail of her date.

Kristine focused on the note in her shaking hand.

We have your mother. Do not call the police. Your mother will be okay as long as you don’t do anything stupid. We don’t want your money. Just a favor only you can do. Wait for our call.

Had they already called while she was out at the dentist—or flirting with her new boyfriend? Would they think she was being uncooperative, not answering the landline when they called or, worse, doing something “stupid” like having the police set up recording equipment and wiretaps?

“Oh God!” Kristine dropped her head in her hands and began to cry. “I don’t know what to do.”

Suddenly the phone rang. She grabbed the receiver sitting next to her and said a rushed “Hello.”

“Are you alone?” a male voice asked. She suspected the caller was speaking through one of those voice modulators.

“Yes,” she answered.

The voice, sounding like it was coming from underwater, asked, “Have you called anyone? Spoken to anyone?”

“No.”

“Are you sure? The line was busy a few minutes ago.”

“I had to cancel an appointment.”

“So you did talk to someone. You lied.”

“No! I didn’t mean to lie. I just thought it wasn’t important. I didn’t say anything about the note to anybody. I swear.”

The phone call ended abruptly.

Her hand flew to her mouth. What have I done? What if I just caused them to hurt my mother?

She was worried enough already. If she knew Amy Scott, she’d be wailing and throwing herself on the floor. Icy chills traveled down her spine as she realized no kidnappers would put up with that. Her mother must be bound and gagged.

Kristine wanted to wail and throw herself on the floor too. But she had to keep it together.

The phone rang again. She grabbed it.

“Did you learn your lesson?” the odd voice asked.

“You’d better not have hurt my mother!”

“She’s still alive. Not happy at the moment, but alive.”

Dear God. If she’s giving them a lot of drama, Lord knows what they’ll do to her. “Let me talk to her,” Kristine demanded.

“Certainly. After you’ve done what we ask you to do, you can talk to her all you like.”

She wanted to yell “No. Now!” But she took a deep breath and tried to sound logical. “How do I even know you have her?”

“You don’t.”

“Then why should I do…whatever it is you want me to do? What is it, by the way?”

“As a firefighter, you have access to many businesses in the area.”

She had a sinking feeling but didn’t dare lie again. “Yeah…”

“We simply need you to retrieve something from one office building after hours.”

“I could lose my job!”

“Or you could lose your mother. Your choice.”

Dear Lord… “You know it’s not going to be easy to do that without getting caught, right? Most places have cameras.”

“Well, that’s where your special skills come into play. We not only know who you are, we know what you are,” he said in an ominous tone.

His implication stopped her words in her throat. Was he talking about her being a dragon shifter? How could he possibly know that?

“I—uh…I don’t know what you’re referring to.”

“Smart girl. You didn’t try to deny that you’re fairly unique. Not exactly one of a kind, but probably one of a tiny handful—your mother being one too.”

Oh crap. He knows our secret, but how? Her mother was the one who impressed upon her the need to keep their supernatural natures absolutely private. She wouldn’t have told anyone—unless maybe under torture…

“I demand to speak to my mother. Right fuckin’ now!”

“Oh, you want Mommy’s permission to talk about your powers?”

“Kind of, yeah.”

“Okay. We’ll put her on the phone, but only for a second. Not long enough to exchange any secret signals or anything.”

Secret signals? “What does that mean? We don’t have any secret signals.”

“That’s good. You won’t be chatting long enough to use them anyway.”

Kristine had heard of family members who’d picked a code word to indicate they were in trouble and to follow certain previously agreed-upon instructions. Such tactics were usually used with little kids. Right now she wished she and her mother had some kind of code in place. They’d have to set something up later, if her mother came home.

“Honey?” Her mother’s voice came over the phone.

“Mom? Are you all right?”

“I’m okay,” she said, her voice trembling. “Do whatever they say. I’m afraid they’ll—”

Then the monster who had her mother came back on the phone. “See? She’s okay…for now. We’re watching your place. If we see cops or any kind of monitoring equipment entering the building, she’s toast.”

“But what if they’re here for someone else? There are a dozen apartments in the building!”

“Not my problem.” He ended the call.

Kristine slid to the floor and cried her eyes out.